jss + rss

4th quarter update

2011-12-17T15:53:00.009-07:00

i haven't told you much about the pregnancy situation, well that is because once i got into the 2nd trimester, i totally forgot i was pregnant! kind of. i felt great and the baby is great. we found out at about 19 weeks (right before hong kong) that it is a girl. this flies in the face of the sparks tradition to only have boys. but that's ok with me. our girl is going to be awesome and we are getting so excited to meet her.

now i am 30 weeks pregnant, or as i like to call it, the 4th quarter. i no longer forget i am pregnant. i remember every 10 minutes when i go to the bathroom, i remember when i accidentally run my belly into things, i remember when i try to poke her foot in because it is sticking out and looks funny, i remember when i get out of breath if i talk too much, when i am constantly hungry, when ryan says i am waddling, and i remember when only one of my winter coats zips up. and i know i still have a long way to go...
it seems like it is getting pretty close until baby, just a few months now. sometimes i panic because we also are most likely moving in the next month too. and we still have a lot to get ready, like, everything. but we'll figure it out. she mostly just needs to be loved right? and we already love her.

cutie profile at 19 weeks:

also, yesterday was ryan's 31st birthday. we had pecan pie. he has grown an impressive beard, and only has one semester left until school is over. happy birthday!

thanksgiving

2011-12-01T19:43:00.003-07:00

thanksgiving is the greatest holiday, admit it. especially this year when my whole family was at my parents for a few days! the last time the whole family was all together was never because it was at least before lucas was born and before andrew and jocelyn were married.
so we played lots of games and ate lots of delicious food to commemorate the occasion.
official proof.
also, why don't we eat dressing year round?

king hong kong

2011-10-28T13:53:00.006-06:00

we have been wanting to visit hong kong since before i can remember. ryan served his mission there and has not been back since. he loves hk so much that it has always been on the radar to visit and now that i have a ticking travel timebomb in my stomach, i thought we should hurry up and get over there. so we spent 2 weeks there and got back last sunday. i am still recovering from jet lag but there's really nothing wrong with going to bed at 7 pm forever is there?

i have so many pictures but these are just some highlights. maybe someday i will make another post about my impressions of hk or what the people were like or all the food that made my stomach turn or how my jaw dropped every time ryan carried on a conversation in cantonese. but probably not.
the first few days were very rainy, and i got very paranoid it would rain the entire time. luckily it did not and was sunny most of the trip and around 85 degrees. that was hot but kind of nice too. this is the view from kowloon looking back at hong kong island across the harbor. ps this picture is about 21 weeks preg in case you are wondering how that is going.
people in hong kong are crazy about horse races. it is the only legal gambling in hk and the crowd went crazy winning and losing their money at every race. i love watching the triple crown on tv and i loved seeing this in person. can you see the horses? they're faster than my camera.
this was a beautiful nunnery with perfect bonsai trees. you can't get away from skyscrapers anywhere on the island but this felt like a very peaceful place.

there are some great beaches! we probably spend 3 or 4 days at the beach. this was at shek o, which was my favorite.
this is the view from victoria peak, the highest point on the island. the size and height of the city is really breathtaking. i don't know if it's beautiful or disturbing, you decide. but the harbor and the jungle hills certainly help.
hi.
we had high tea at the peninsula in kowloon one day. it is a very ritzy hotel and we fit right in. i did not spend half the time side eyeing the other tables to see how they were doing it.
one day we went to macau, which is another special administrative region island like hong kong is. the portuguese inhabited it for 500 years so the architecture is very european and there are some cool cathedrals and these ruins. also it is the gambling capitol of the world.
at night we would wander through markets. one street was all a fish market, there was a bird market, flower market, knock off rolex market, but most were just fish or smelly markets.
this is on another island of hong kong, lantau. you take a gondola to see a giant buddha at the end. do you see the giant buddha?

if you are saying to yourself "i can't believe they went to hong kong and didn't do ___" you are wrong, we did that. we did it all. i just didn't say it.

the 26.2 mile man

2011-09-23T11:26:00.004-06:00

ryan has taken to running the last few years and really loves it. he has been talking a lot about running a marathon, so last spring when he finished his finals i told him that i signed him up for the top of utah marathon. he has been doing a lot of running and training for it this summer. it is good for me too because i have him do his long runs on monday nights so i can watch the bachelorette without commentary.
my little brother andrew ran this same marathon a few years ago, after he ran it he said he never wanted to do that again and so far has stood by that. i fantasized that this would happen to ryan as well because i don't necessarily want one of those crazy runners for a husband. but ryan already wants to run another marathon this weekend, and thinks he can get a better time. i told him that his toes need to heal first (they still look like they are going to fall off) but i am hoping he will forget about it sometime over the winter. he claims it is my fault though since i signed him up for it. whoops!

he did a great job and i am so proud of him for finishing! i do not understand why people like to run but i am really glad he accomplished his goal and did not sustain any permanent injuries.

and shout out to the richardson grandparents in logan, thanks for letting us stay with you!

the lost summer

2011-09-15T09:25:00.005-06:00

this summer will go down in history as the lost summer. i did not go on any trips, i did not get a tan, i didn't bike, i didn't cook (or eat much besides milk and crackers), i didn't sew anything or read any books, i had zero tolerance for heat and no energy, i basically failed at summer. the only thing i succeeded at was whining about how hungry i was but didn't want to eat, and sleep. i am like the usain bolt of sleep. i decided to reference usain bolt there because i am already so excited for the olympics next year.

luckily over the past month i have been transitioning back to a more complete version of my former self. i'm hoping to make up for lost time and somehow salvage the last half of 2011. here are a few things from the past month.

we had a great visit from ryan's parents before school started. here in park city riding the lift.
stacey and justin were in town last month at the same time and andrew got home from his internship in SF. we were missing almost everyone else (thanks for reppin the inlaws joce) but it was still cool for that weekend.
another thing i failed at this summer was celebrating our anniversary. the one week i was out of town for work happened to be our 2nd anniversary. whoops! i wasn't feeling good enough to celebrate until last week, when we went up to sundance for a delicious dinner. yum. ps look who got a haircut!!

oh and here is my bump starting point for reference, this is on labor day at 15 weeks. i'm not impressing anyone so far but am happy to not have to shop for pants with elastic waistbands quite yet.
ryan, on the other hand, is really starting to show.

baby sparks

2011-09-08T15:24:00.003-06:00

this is the official blog announcement that things are going to get a lot more interesting over here because i'm going to be blogging about 3 people instead of just 2. as of now.

ok well baby is not very photogenic at this point. it looks like he or she is giving a giant thumbs up and also waving? or maybe double thumbs up. i don't know, i'm no ultrasound tech.

stay tuned for pictures of me getting larger up until the end of february, when i will magically procure a human from inside my body.

the last first day of school

2011-08-23T15:45:00.002-06:00

we finally made it! year 3 of law school.

he's really let himself go this time around. see: year 1, year 2.

i'm not sure what the fingers mean. 2012? well here's to school freedom in 2012!

twins for b

2011-08-04T12:18:00.003-06:00

i know i only ever post about myself and possibly ryan if he does something monumental, but this time it cannot be helped. last night i visited my dear friend bianca, she just had twin girls on monday. they are no doubt the cutest things on the planet right now. they're going to be so much fun. congrats bianca and greg!

hazel has darker hair and penny is lighter.

it's like i don't know there are other cities

2011-08-04T11:42:00.004-06:00

last week i spent a few days in nyc with stacey. i feel like i am there a lot. it was over 100 degrees. factoring in the humidity, i felt like a puddle. in a move to ensure i never have to be that uncomfortable, i've decided to never go there again. sorry stace.

the highlight was seeing the alexander mcqueen exhibit at the met. you can't take pictures but you can look them up online if you want to see.
like this
i did a poor job at taking pictures. here are some from central park.

i spent the next week in the hamptons for a work outing. i do not have pictures of that. but it was very pretty and coastal and swanky.

ok here is one picture, the pool and the house where we stayed. life does not get much harder that i know of.

almost as good as olan mills

2011-06-17T12:29:00.004-06:00

besides our wedding pictures, there are only a handful of pictures of ryan and me where we are both smiling at the camera and the camera is more than 1 foot from our faces (see previous post). because this bothers me, and because we're coming up on 2! years of wedded bliss, i decided it was high time to get some "family" pictures taken.

here are some of my favs. i'm really happy with how they turned out and i think it was totally worth all the back rubs that i bribed ryan with.

the champions

2011-06-13T15:46:00.004-06:00

in the 5 years or so that i have known ryan, i have only seen him cry two times. one was during our marriage ceremony. and the other was last night when the dallas mavericks won the NBA finals.

this title has been a long time coming and the mavs were the best team. i think dirk is really talented and is a great example of how pro athletes should act. dirk deserves the title more than anyone. but just after that, i think ryan deserves it more than anyone. to say he is a fan would be an understatement.
wearing his 15 year old lucky mavs shirt and congratulating mark cuban i think.
but as for me, i am always happy when mavs season is over. now i have a few months of sports free evenings! and i promise to never blog about sports again.

spring update

2011-05-23T12:26:00.005-06:00

you can probably guess what has been going on in our lives without even reading this post -- good and boring stuff.

ryan finished his second year of law school. now when people ask him what year he is he says 3L! we're so close!

here he is getting ready for something at the school where he had to act like the vice president of the usa. he has my vote!
i have been working on quilts in my freetime, this is one i made for our living room. who knew such a boring hobby could be so addicting?
and besides that we are just living our lives. we're both working a lot and fitting in fun things as we can. and also watching a lot of mavericks winning. go dallas! i will have to take a rain check on the new bachelorette tonight though. let me know if she's any good.

ryan with his new bike. now i just need one and we'll be back in business.

traveling for work is the worst

2011-04-08T09:56:00.003-06:00

since my entire company works remotely, every few months i have to travel for meet ups. so far it is has been philadelphia or atlanta or austin, but this past week it was puerto vallarta. it's true what they say about traveling for work. it's really terrible.

they put you up in these stuffy hotels in ugly business districts
you spend all day in conference rooms
you eat at boring chain restaurants
if you are lucky enough to have free time, there is nothing to do but watch hbo in your hotel room
and there is definitely never enough time to explore the surrounding area.
it should really be avoided if at all possible.

26 years old

2011-02-20T19:00:00.003-07:00

i had a great birthday! this cake tastes a lot better than it looks. and it's my birthday so i don't have to eat the edges. and the candles are leftover from ryan's birthday. but he had food poisoning on his birthday and by the time he got better it was christmas and never got a cake. so that is why i let ryan eat this cake too.
ryan took me to forage, where i've been wanting to eat for forever. it was amazing! it was even too classy to take a picture. so this is just in our living room afterwards.
every year is better than the last, and i'm pretty sure this is going to be even better. i am getting old but life is great!

cruisetastic

2011-01-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

this is where i was sitting all last week:
on this little guy:
eating a lot of this type of thing:
with these great people:
watching weird shows at night in this room:beating these people at bang:and snazzing it up:
yes!

the carribeans

2011-01-12T19:25:00.003-07:00

i was anticipating beforehand that a cruise would not really be my thing because of how you are only on each island for 6 or 8 hours and dumped off with thousands of other tourists and do not have much control over the itinerary. i was right, it was not really my thing. i really enjoyed lounging and eating on the boat, and loved spending time with the sparks, but the islands were more frustrating tourist traps than anything. i'd like someday to go back and be able to stay and play at my leisure and get to a less touched part of the island.

our first stop was puerto rico. it was definitely my favorite and the most beautiful island we went to. we walked through the old town and i was really blown away by the beautiful old fort surrounding the town and the houses that were painted so brightly.

and the huge iguanas!
this was st thomas. we actually went scuba diving for most of our time here which was great. i got certified 2 years ago but this was my first ocean dive, so i was really excited. we scuba'd around coral reef and a sunken ship. legit.
our last stop was st. marten. the water is really blue and the beaches are beautiful but crowded and the shops and restaurants double their prices when they see that ship doc. i did not see any pirates.
the boys taking a swim.
i will say that i had a great time. i turned off my phone and computer for 10 straight days and that was a pretty spectacular sensation. the weather was perfect the entire week and i soaked up what i hope is 4 months of vitamin D.

a+j the wedding

2010-12-21T10:54:00.005-07:00

andrew and jocelyn tied the knot in fresno last weekend. and they looked great doing it. they could be models.

here they are coming out of the temple and being like, why won't anyone talk to us?
and taking some pictures but it rains in fresno 99% of the time according to my experience there.
esteemed guests and ryan's finalsweek beard.
twins
they had the lunch at this cool lodge bavarian type house restaurant that was really nice. they had a ring ceremony before lunch which was really sweet and they said nice things to each other.
after lunch they helped each other to some polite cake tasting. lunch was so fantastic too but i didn't take pictures of it because it was my #1 priority to get it in my belly as soon as possible.
ps check out the cake.
and they lived happily ever after!!

finally finished

2010-12-08T09:35:00.003-07:00

at our wedding dinner, i picked out a few different fabrics to add flare to the table tops. i thought it would be a cool wedding day souvinier to make a quilt from the fabrics. well, a year and a half later it is finally done! it didn't take me that long, but i took a lot of breaks due to frustration or leaving it in PA or just having absolutely no idea how to sew a quilt. i only counted about one million mistakes, but i kind of like it that way.
and somehow the end result is that i love quilts and want to make a million more! just don't look too closely.

one more time ok

2010-12-05T17:17:00.006-07:00

i swear i do other things besides go to DC. but maybe i don't post about much else besides my niece and nephew. i promise this is the last time for a while. unless one of them do something really cute.

this time i was actually going to philadelphia for work but decided to spend a few days on the way visiting the new man child.

i even got some quality time with two of my fav gals

philadelphia was really great too but i don't have any photos of that. it felt pretty good to be back in pennsylvania, i kind of miss it. but that's really it for the east coast for a while. at least a month...

welcome lucas!

2010-11-06T19:34:00.002-06:00

justin and lindsey had their baby on thursday, isn't that great? i never knew how special it would be when your siblings have babies, but it really is something else.
congratulations justin and lindsey and a-belle! more pics on their blog.

rally to what

2010-11-03T13:26:00.003-06:00

well we went to the rally last weekend. i'm not really sure what to tell you about it that fits into the normal tone of this blog. but basically it was all over the top, all vague, all weird musical guests (kid rock?), a lot of people. it was mostly a diss on news channels, which i think is a boring thing to talk about when you have 150,000 people gathered to hear you and they've already heard you say that on every episode of your show. i mean, they were even dissing NPR. not cool. if i can't get news from NPR, where am i supposed to get it? 30 minutes a day of joke news? whoops there i went. well, it basically reaffirmed my belief in my political party of why-can't-i-live-on-a-private-island-and-be-left-alone party.
all tired and hungry and want to sit down.
so anyway, kind of a crazy day. not sure i would ever do that again, but it was free right? and of course it made it all better when we got to spend some time with this little one:
she's going to be a big sister tomorrow! good luck justin and lindsey!!

now you're in new york

2010-10-20T14:01:00.007-06:00

it takes all my energy when i'm there to not sing empire state of mind out loud. i sound exactly like alicia keys in my head. how people contain themselves from belting that out in times square, i don't know.

here are some of the things we did in NYC.

toured stacey's school one day. this is her campus. did you know there are schools in america that look like this? i have only been to schools that resemble giant bricks.

in the guggenheim museum. all museums should be laid on this way! perfect!
riding bikes through central park and around town. perfect!
eating at shake shack. yum! mine is a mushroom burger. and that shake cost a 20 minute wait in line and $6.50 and pushing over other people's children to get a seat. but worth so much more.
we did other stuff too. went to the MOMA, shopped, took a ferry, ate lots and lots, you know. and it was great to see stace and catch up and admire her and tell her some new jokes. see you soon, of course! you should visit stacey too, she is a great tour guide! and she gives you snacks in baggies when you are going out!

i love my husband and why

2010-10-18T15:32:00.005-06:00

last week was ryan's fall break (what?), so i took a few days off too and we went to nyc to visit stacey. i'll post some pictures of those fun times once i get my camera downloaded, but i wanted to share this first. because it's monday and you probably could use a laugh too.

on thursday we went to a taping of the daily show, and if you've watched lately you probably have heard about the rally he and colbert are having in DC on Oct 30th. long story short (here is the episode if you want the long story) they gave the whole audience plane tickets and hotel nights to go the rally. cool? very cool. i'm really excited. i think the rally will be fun and we'll get to see the little shaws, which is awesome. and free and i've never won anything before. thanks oprah!

but all those things combined are not as awesome as ryan's face after we "checked under our seats":

is this the happiest person in the world? we're going on about 36 hours with no sleep at this point which may be partially to blame. but still. i love this guy.

spar hawks come to town

2010-10-12T14:44:00.004-06:00

we had a great time last week when ryan's parents came to salt lake to visit us. they took us out to lots of yummy restaurants, took us to general conference, helped with my quilt and even got my car registered! what!

waiting for our seat at red iguana:

enjoying fall colors at brighton resort:

fatherly love:

before the "4" hour conference:

quilt in process. more pics to come when it is finished. in like 5 years.

thanks for coming! see you in january!

first day of school

2010-08-24T16:44:00.004-06:00

ryan started his second year today. he already has his game face on. today he has classes until 7 pm, so it's kind of a rude awakening for both of us. i've gotten used to spending time with him this summer and i'm sad that's over. but now i'll be able to pick up my hobbies where i left them last may. hello unfinished quilt...

r transferred to the U for his second and third year. we are sad to not be going back to pennsylvania, we'll miss the friends we've made there and all the fun that came with being on the east coast and in the middle of nowhere. but we'll have more opportunities, less student loans, and lots of family and friends here so it really was a no-brainer.

he said he was going to wear a Y shirt to the first day of school, but it looks like he went with his red shoes instead. he is probably just trying to protect himself from bullies.

status updates

2010-08-24T15:46:00.010-06:00

i'm not going to say i'm good at updating my blog. but compared to my siblings, i am a blog updating master. they also don't update facebook, and none of them are on twitter. so i am here today to do my duty with online sibling status updates.

1. andrew and jocelyn got engaged last weekend. totally cool. can you believe i have a little brother getting married? i am pretty excited and i really like jocelyn. even though she has like the cool version of my name and is 5 inches taller than me. which is a lot to overcome!
2. stacey is going to columbia. the school, not the country. this is the picture on the school's website right now. coincidentally also the picture on the country's website.
i'll sure miss you.
3. i already told you they are having a baby in a few months. but it is still very cool. justin travels a lot and goes to cool places like london and less cool places like tennessee.
4. and we moved to salt lake. permanently. for two years. bye bye green mountains and open farmland. hello construction and chapped lips. but you will hear more about all this because i am good at updating.
my parents are ok at updating, but here are some updates in case you don't know

5. this is my mom teaching us about how to take pictures. she would know, she is a great photographer, and also happens to be the star reporter at the davis county clipper.
6. my dad traded his beloved in-ground trampoline for a legit vegetable patch this summer. he has raked in some serious zucchini and beans and peppers with loads still growing. mmboy!

lasiversary

2010-07-27T20:49:00.011-06:00

did you remember that this happened one year ago? did you do anything fun to celebrate? well we did. we heard that las vegas is a great place to visit in july so we went down there to find out for ourselves what it feels like to live in a preheated oven.
walking along the strip. there sure were a lot of people there. and by people, i mean crazy whackadoos.
we stayed here. it was the closest hotel to nordstrom. hello anniversary sale.
we saw this weird thing. what is that thing?
and here is a totally unstaged picture of us right before we dove into some competitive tic tac toe.

and let's not forget the unlimited buffet pass that we had on saturday. let's just say we got our money's worth.

and hey, we saw these guys. remember these guys? these newlywed guys were sure appreciative of all the marriage advice we had to offer. and they let ryan eat a bolivian hot pepper. thanks guys!

mia's wedding

2010-07-11T22:28:00.008-06:00

ia's wedding was just really really great. everyone was so happy and maria and rich were so happy and it just was a great day. i am so happy for them! and now they're married! and the day and the details were perfect. they got married in the draper temple and had their reception at caffe molise downtown.
the cannons!
at the reception. isn't that wall the greatest?
catching up
dancing
leaving
these last awhile...
and, because it's my blog. here we are. hot day!

congratulations mia and rich, i am so happy for you both! see you soon in vegas!

pictures 2, 4, 6 stolen from louise shaw. sorry.

june shower

2010-07-01T21:26:00.006-06:00

ast night we threw a shower for MARIA who is about to get married! good company, good food, good everything. i am really excited for her wedding next week. like. really.

the party planning committee and the bride. me, mia, bianca, ally. and our balloons.

utah summer

2010-06-28T15:48:00.005-06:00

e have been in utah for almost one month now and it has just been full of non stop fun. let me tell you. it's really great to be here and spend time with friends and the family and eat at mexican restaurants again.

here are some things we have been doing. in no particular order:

beard growing:

buzz lightyear kite flying:

spiral jettying:

family timing. that is andrew's girlfriend jocelyn, in case you noticed something different. she is cool:

getting visits from the cutest toddler ever:

and her parents. and they're going to have a baby boy in november!

lagooning. don't diss until you ride this baby. so awesome:

park city:
the end. for now. and more summer fun to come!

wild onion city

2010-05-31T17:07:00.006-06:00

e decided to break our cross-country drive up with a few days in chicago. what a great city! we tried to squeeze in as much as possible in the time we were there. we lucked out and had perfect weather, which from what i understand is very unusual. we loved millennium park and the art institute and the pizza and the water everywhere. here are some things we did:
we went to the top of the sears tower. i didn't know that chicago was so right on lake michigan. it feels like you're on the ocean. you can stand in fiberglass boxes on the 103rd floor and look down. like so. ryan got really sweaty palms in this activity. i know this because he was holding onto my arm really tightly.
we couldn't believe the great bike paths that were along the lake and right into the city and through 20 miles of parks. luckily our bikes were on the car so we could do this beautiful ride!
we took a boat from the chicago river into lake michigan which was a good rest for our feet.

the bean. can you see me?
full moon and fountain. this fountain has 1.5 million gallons of water.
and of course, chicago deep dish pizza. woah boy. you do not need a size medium or large. you need the smallest size pizza.

falling house water

2010-05-16T10:47:00.004-06:00

yan is done with his first year! now we can start spending our weekends together and doing fun things.

saturday ryan and i went to fallingwater, a home that frank lloyd wright built outside of pittsburgh. it was so cool the way the house was built to fit into the hillside and around the trees and waterfall. it was so serene. i wish that during the 40's i was friends with these pittsburgh millionaires so they would invite me to lounge in their waterfall house and let me sleep in a room decorated with diego rivera sketches. none of my friends even have fourth homes.

i do not wish i owned this house because it requires millions of dollars in repairs every year so the balconies do not topple over. told to us as we stood on a balcony with 15 other people.
it was a perfect day too. you almost can't see the house because it was so dang lush.

no exciting story here

2010-05-05T20:16:00.004-06:00

i have never lived somewhere where it is so green as it is here. i mean, i know oregon is green and it is green year round, but it is dark green. here the trees are all newly blossomed and it is such a bright green. i love it. pennsylvania is really growing on me. now that i've sufficiently forgotten about that retched winter of pain. all it takes is a few cherry blossoms! what 30 day stretch of single digit temperature??

if you are looking for an exciting story, you have probably come to the wrong place. that's why i warned you with the title. that thing i said about the color of the trees is probably about as exciting as it's going to get. update: we've just been working and schooling around here. sometimes i go crazy and sew or watch movies that i already own! ryan took his first final today and is almost done with the first year! can i just say "we" this one time? can you just forgive that i am about to say this: WE'RE almost done with our first year! WOHOO! we are moving back to the promised land for the summer, for a ryan internship. i am planning loads of biking and mexican food and family and friends time. i am focusing on those happy things instead of the packing all our stuff up and putting it in a storage unit and driving cross country. within the next month. things.

little shaws and flowers and kites

2010-03-28T14:41:00.003-06:00

had a great time this weekend in DC with justin and lindsey and annabelle. ryan is busy working on a paper so he stayed home. i am excited for summer for 50 reasons and one of them is a break from law school, i think we (me) are ready for that. it is cherry blossom time in DC so we went to the national mall where they make a big deal of it. i don't think they were fully out yet but there were still some good ones!

here is the cute family with some good blossoms.
white blossoms in front of an art museum
pink magnolias. my favorite
it was also some kind of kite day on saturday. it's hard to see in these pictures but there are a ton of kites being flown between the capitol and the washington monument. pretty cool.
this girl is probably becoming a little too cute for her own good. we rode the metro into town and when we would get on the subway (no matter how packed it was), she would yell "hi!" and smile and wave to everyone on the train. and half the train would smile and wave back. so hilarious. i really do have the cutest niece. REALLY.

march inside

2010-03-23T17:56:00.007-06:00

o you want to see pictures of ryan and midas hanging out?

napping
studying
reading

i'm excited spring is about here. we could use some more fresh air.

big age big city

2010-02-21T16:48:00.006-07:00

his weekend we drove to new york to celebrate my 25th birthday. and life. we saw wicked on friday night, which was really fun to finally see! ryan knew i have been wanting to see it and so that was my birthday present for us to go! it was also ryan's first time to nyc so we did some exploring on saturday. i tried to be a good tour guide but i am not a good tour guide. i'm that obvious tourist standing on the corner with an upside down map and a fanny pack looking up at the sky. but i managed to find the met and times square and even navigated my car down to the financial district. observe my cab driver-like concentration. and this is while i am saying RYAN LOOK THERE IS WALL ST. THERE IS THE NYSE. THERE'S THE BULL. THE CAR IN FRONT OF US IS FROM PENNSYLVANIA! STATUE OF LIBERTY!!!! i don't know whether ryan enjoyed himself. i think he did. i am just happy to get out that place in one piece. i'm no small town girl but that city is huge and crazy.

tussey mountain

2010-02-13T20:06:00.003-07:00

would you believe me if i told you there is a ski resort 15 minutes from our house? well there is. and ryan and i have been making fun of this tussey mountain resort since we learned of its 38 acre existence. but i like to go skiing at least once a year just to make sure i still got it, and after all the snow we've gotten in the past week (doubling their base to 40"), it seemed like today was a good day to go. here is a photo of the one lift and the main run, semi-appropriately named "utah."
i was actually pretty impressed with the snow. however, there are only two runs and they are so short, it took us 1-2 minutes to complete a run. so it got kind of boring after a few hours. pretty different from utah but i still can't believe there's even a ski resort here of any kind.

academy award recommendations

2010-02-03T19:55:00.008-07:00

i have not seen all the movies this year. i have seen all the movies that i thought looked good, and much less than that were actually good. so because i liked so few movies this year that i saw, that did not make me want to see more movies. if you have been in a 2009 movie coma and are just waking up and ready to catch up, help is on the way.

michael jackson "this is it"
my mom advised us kids to watch "this is it" if we haven't seen it because "we kind of grew up on it". my brother justin had the best moonwalk ever when he was like 8 or 9. pretty sure he still does. i think everyone will appreciate and enjoy this movie, but if you are an mj lover, i don't recommend watching this movie with someone who thinks he is "just ok". that may or may not have been my personal experience. but it's cool stuff. that guy definitely still had it. just don't look at his face too closely.

fantastic mr. fox
rhode dahl: good, wes anderson: good, george clooney: good, stop animation: good. all good. also only a little over an hour long. and these days, i appreciate that.

hurt locker
i don't watch many and i don't enjoy any war movies, but this one really pulls you in. i think for the first time i may have a glimpse of what it is really like day to day in iraq.

up
you know you're hooked when a kid movie gets you crying in the first five minutes.
those are my four nominations of movies that you should see from last year. but i haven't seen every movie, especially if they just came out. but more especially if they are an independent film, then it should arrive in state college around 4 years from now.

i think these movies were entertaining and worth seeing but maybe fell slightly below my expectations: sherlock homes, inglorious bastards, julie & julia, bright star, proposal, whip it

you've heard the hype and you want to keep up at parties, but i personally would rather have my hours and dollars in my pocket than seen these: where the wild things are, 500 days of summer, avatar, up in the air.

and, while we're here, do you need a book? well try this one. i wanted it to not end.

2009

2010-01-16T16:29:00.014-07:00

2009 was a big year for me and us. in case you missed it, here it is. in case you did not miss it, maybe you want to relive it. i know i do.

i moved into my own apartment in provo. this was my view. it was incredible, i could see utah lake and mountains and the most beautiful sunrises.
went to hawaii with the family. i think everyone should take a warm vacation every winter. and if you go this year, please don't tell me about it.
my brother justin and sil lindsey had their baby, annabelle. i am an aunt! she is a year old now! did you see these pictures on their blog?? oh my.
ryan and i got engaged. this isn't a picture of ryan proposing, it is just his romantic valentines day face. ryan proposed to me in his work parking lot when i brought him a jamba juice one night he worked late. i wouldn't have it any other way. he is my perfect one. he is wearing a scarf i made. i got into that in 09.
i went to san francisco once for work and once for a wedding. i love san francisco. but i value my $$ too much to ever aspire to live there.
i visited denver for the first time to see my friend brooke. she is now on a mission! ole!
i went through the temple. here the closest temple is 4 hours from us. they are building one in philadelphia though. don't get too excited. although that will be "ours" it is still 4 hours away. hard to imagine that in utah there were like 6 within one or two hours of us. that's pretty cool
ryan and i got married. my friend alexis took this picture and it is one of my favorites. i really loved planning the wedding and i love not having to plan the wedding anymore. i am not great with making final decisions, everything took way too long in my head. did you know i bought three wedding dresses? and that the one i wore i bought off ebay one week before the wedding? yes, aren't you glad you're still reading to pick up that little gem.
h-moon to seattle. did you know it was the hottest it's ever been in seattle the week that we were there! and that nobody in seattle has air conditioning! opposite brrr
we moved to pennsylvania. we drove here. we like it here.
ryan started law school/finished his first semester of law school now. i'm so proud of how hard that he worked this semester and i'm so happy that he likes it so much.
i got a job. i still do online marketing like i did in utah, but i'm with a different company now, a company based out of cleveland. i work from home which has been nicer than i could have imagined. i'm grateful to have found a job.
went on lots of trips exploring the east coast! boston, nyc, dc, philadelphia, and around pa a bit. and have seen friends even! and we still have so many places to see! come over here!
2009 was a big year for midas too. he was born, got adopted by us, learned how to climb up chairs, tries to eat human food, tries to sleep in human bed, meows a lot.
christmas visits to utah and dallas. but that just happened so you know about that. out the window is kennecott copper mine in utah. no personal tidbits here but did you know it is one of two manmade things visible from space? the other is the great wall of china.

bigD

2010-01-04T10:03:00.002-07:00

we had a great time in dallas with ryan's family. i wish we could have spent more time in both dallas and slc but it was nice to see everyone. i took close to zero pictures so you will just have to use your imagination. a few days it was warm (50's!) and we went to a museum, ate delicious food, celebrated the new year, watched movies, and i beat everyone at mexican train dominoes.

i took this picture last night when we were getting gas. there were tiny snowflakes all over the windshield. i thought it was cool that you could see all 6 sides. have you ever seen snowflakes that look like this? because they are supposed to be unique. let me know. it feels good to be back in pennsylvania, i am really happy that we live here.

christmas

2009-12-29T16:20:00.010-07:00

i know that everyone has one or two horrible flying stories under their belt. i'm not going to go into detail about our horrible story we acquired last week, but i'll tell you a few details just so you feel bad for us. we flew out of pittsburgh, and after a connection in dallas we were supposed to get into salt lake at 11 pm on christmas eve. but. we never made it to dallas. we made it to arkansas. so in the end we spent christmas eve night and christmas morning in little rock, arkansas and got into salt lake at 4 pm on christmas. and everything in between was a combination of your basic airplane nightmares. so i hope everyone in dallas enjoyed their white christmas more than we did.
christmas morning. not too many sugarplums in these heads.
no snow up here
so we were happy to finally make it to salt lake in one piece. thanks to our family for holding christmas for us and it was still really special. i feel only a little bit cheated.

and we got to hang out with this cute little babytoddler. here is an ornament's view of annabelle, to continue the series.

this is what a christmas treat coma looks like
the christmas fam. annabelle is keeping her eye on ryan.
we're at the airport again now and about to get on another plane to dallas where we're spending a few days with ryan's family. i know that we have to get home to pennsylvania this weekend. but seriously, i never want to see an airplane again. so.

**update: it's snowing in dallas again. and our flight is delayed 3 hours. some people have all the luck. also, never fly american. ever. and, since when has it ever snowed in dallas? twice? in one year?

bday boy

2009-12-22T07:23:00.004-07:00

last wed (16th) was ryan's birthday and also, his finals are over yay. the birthday celebration went something like this: wednesday he opened his birthday presents and studied all day, thursday i was in ohio and he took a final, friday we went out to a birthday dinner, and on sunday i made him a birthday cake. whoops! or as we say around here, celebrating all week long.

we got maybe 6 inches of snow on saturday which is a lot for one day but nothing like d.c. and philly got. this picture is actually from a different snow storm, but still relevant.
so happy birthday to my love. and he found only 1 grey hair.

bon anniversary

2009-12-09T09:33:00.005-07:00

ryan bought my wedding ring from an antique jewelry store in salt lake, antoinette's. there is a date on the inside of the ring, 12/6/16. i'm not sure if the date is Dec 6 or June 12, but if it is Dec 6, then happy 93rd wedding anniversary to whomever this ring belonged to originally. i am really hoping that someday someone will notice my ring and can tell me who it belonged to before and what their story was.

we've been meaning to have our wedding date added to the ring as well, but i am not ready to part with it for the week or so it takes to have it engraved. you can see the details better if you click on the pictures, and also my hairy knuckles.

festiveness

2009-12-05T20:16:00.010-07:00

here is how the holiday decorating is going so far. i think this will be the last of it actually, since i'm not too big on holiday decorating and we're not actually spending christmas here. so here is what i got. also, i'm not going to say "we" in this post because 1. it's just me talking and 2. it's just me decorating. ryan's last final is on the 17th so until then i'm having a lot of me time.

lights on the house. i opted for LED lights because i am a sucker for huge signs that tell me i'm going to save $72 a year, and boy do they light up the neighborhood. i am not trying to make enemies (or friends, really) on our street so i only have them running for like 30 minutes a night now. but it's fun for me because through the curtains it looks like it's daylight. booyah.

stockings. i made them. you can probably tell that i made them. but i am proud.

christmas tree. wouldn't it be crazy if the tree is 7 feet tall and we are giants!! giants in love, though.

the tree used to have ornaments but i couldn't keep any of them on for 30 seconds because midas just had so much fun with them. this is what it would look like if you were an ornament:

so that's pretty much it. and then you'd be on the floor or taken to his under-the-couch lair. hopefully as time goes on i will stop posting pictures of the cat.

this is how we roll in the house because our house has no insulation and it is now winter. today i sealed plastic stuff around all the windows and we bought a powerful heater (current one is not warm or efficient) so hopefully now we will not be the couple that dies from hypothermia in their own home and gets found 400 years later still in perfect condition. you know, that couple.

tgiving

2009-11-27T14:26:00.009-07:00

happy thanksgiving! how was your thanksgiving? i am still full! i have been eating leftovers since yesterday so that might have something to do with it. we started the day with a nice walk through bellefonte, it is still pretty here even with the leaves gone and it has not been too cold besides that freak storm last month, which i am very happy about it being a freak.

we had a great meal with our friends the hancocks who are a fellow law school couple and are in our ward. we split the cooking down the middle and i had a great time making some thanksgiving food, which i've never done. historically i've played the role of spectator/consumer. my proudest creation was the pumpkin pie. i made it out of a pumpkin. also it is the first pie i've ever made. i was not sure how it would work out, but i figured it could not be too bad since there is more sugar than pumpkin. it was actually really good. and i used my mom's great pie crust recipe too so that helped.

before:
after.

here are some pics of us i stole from lauren :) i need to get better at taking pictures of us, it seems like i only take pictures of random crap like pumpkins and ducks. but here we are watching the cowboys win.

lauren and joel, awesome hosts and cooks!

king midas

2009-11-22T19:02:00.005-07:00

ryan and i got a cat from the spca about a month ago. his name is midas. i am not really a cat person and have never had one, but i am home all day and thought i could use a buddy. he's been really fun so far. i am kind of nervous after the dog fiasco (ryan having to sell his dog before we moved to PA, and he is still really bummed about it/blames me even though it would be impossible to drive a doberman across country and then find a place where we could have a house and yard and train her to not be psycho) to have another pet. so. we'll see how this goes.

midas thinks he is a human. he tries to eat with us, study/work with us, watch movies with us, go out with us, he does not want to be left out. i also think midas is a human. i talk to midas a lot, we have some really great conversations. when i walk around the house now, i look like i am marching, because midas likes to walk right in front of my feet, so i either step on him or trip unless i do the march. he is a fun cat and mostly just wants to sit on one of our laps all day. we thought i might be allergic to him so ryan shaved midas to see (i am not allergic, turns out i was just getting a cold), so now he looks more like a raw turkey with a cat head--see below. but fortunately it is growing back quickly. his most favorite place to sit is my computer. yesterday i left the computer for a minute and when i came back he had written ktyyyyyyyyyyy in the email i had open.

our house

2009-11-22T17:03:00.006-07:00

grandpa gary called me out today for saying that i was going to post pictures of our house and never doing so. really, i have wanted to, but i want to post pictures of when it is clean and the lighting is good, and it also took us a while to get all the furnishings. so even though some of these do not depict how it is set up today, at least you can get an idea. and at least it is semi well lit and semi clean. the above is the window outside the bathroom. i won't show you the bathroom, just imagine one arm's width by two arms' widths and then put in all the normal bathroom stuff and you have it.

this is the kitchen table. in the last post you can see what the living room looks like now. red couch and a tv and the table on the side. but our table, isn't it pretty. we don't eat there anymore though, it is filled with law books and my sewing machine (!) so we eat on the coffee table.

fridge and mudroom.
kitchen. this is the best room i think and where i spend all my free time. just baking away.
this is the hall/office. ryan studies here and i work here. this area is typically disheveled and not much to look at. someday there will be nice offices for us but today this is just fine.
here is the staircase that goes up to the bedroom. which i won't show you either because it's just a mattress on the floor and a dresser. the ceiling is so low above the staircase that we can't get any other furniture up there.

so i hope that was exciting a little. was it?

we drove out here only with our two little cars and whatever we could fit in them, so we left/sold any big stuff in utah. so we've still got a ways to go decorating wise but that's ok.

this month has been ok. i am finishing off my second cold for the month and ryan is just getting started on his second cold for the month, so we've been keeping it pretty low key trying to recover and not to infect other people. ryan's finals are just around the corner now so stay tuned to see whether we survive the first semester.

colors of the fall

2009-11-12T08:21:00.002-07:00

yellow leaves
red leaves
yellow squash
orange squash
orange cat

intercepted

2009-10-26T16:12:00.005-06:00

this is part of a painting in the MOMA in nyc and it depicts where i was last week.
i was so happy to hear that mia was coming out for a big city visit so of course i had to intercept that. and then i was so happy to learn that bianca was coming out for a stopover on the way to the rest of the world so of course i had to intercept that. and above all, they would be here at the same time, so only one drive for me into crazy nyc! triple!
the blurry man is not, in fact, about to steal maria's camera. he happens to be her "travel companion" on this trip.*pic stolen from mia, but i'm not the only one
we just played in nyc for the day and then left that night when maria went back to utah :(. and me and bianc continued tooooo BOSTON.
bianca is a boston native and an expert tour guide. i think in the beautiful warm fall we were both ready to unpack our bags and live there forever. what a great city! we went to the aquarium and museum and mapparium, to harvard square and general walk abouts.

thank you so much for visiting the east side mia and b! anyone else who comes to this general area i will come to you and i will hang out with you! unless it's during the week because now i have a job.

holgayear

2009-10-25T09:27:00.004-06:00

i bought a holga camera a year or so ago and i never remember to take pictures with it. also i forget how nerve wracking it is to take pictures with film, and have no idea how they will turn out. but it was really exciting to develop the film and not know what the pictures are of! here are a few of my favorites:
san diego, aug 08
bald eagle state park in penn, aug 09
lavender days in mona, ut june 08
windmill fields in nebraska, aug 09
taco bell parking lot in illinois, aug 09
san francisco, march 09

not ready

2009-10-22T17:07:00.003-06:00

last week we got dumped on, snow wise. i was not aware that is even something that happened here. especially so early. and they did not cancel anyone's school. a girl can hope.
we also happened upon tickets to the penn state game on saturday. we are not technically psu fans but i was excited to see what all the fuss was about, and feel what it was like to be in the biggest football stadium in the country. well. it was cold. that's all i'm sure of. and "we" won the game. which we looked up later since if we stayed the whole time we'd've needed our fingers, toes, and noses amputated from frostbite disease.

puzzle clouds visitors

2009-10-10T19:18:00.003-06:00

we had our first visitors last week! mom and dad made a stop on their east coast tour to come inland for a bit and pay a visit. it was great to see familiar faces and to catch up and be taken out to eat :). It also helped us realize how boring central PA is. and on the off chance that anyone else visits us, we really need to figure out what exactly you can show people/do here.
me and ryan made this puzzle during watching conference. it was the cheapest and hardest puzzle we could find. there was a lot of "can we work on this puzzle now?" "yes we can!" "do you think we'll be able to finish this puzzle?" "yes we can!" going on. you'd be surprised how long it takes for that phrase to get old. or would you...

the colors are barely starting to turn here. be prepared for many more pictures of the colors turning because i think it's going to happen around here in a major way and i'm really excited. also, there's something about the clouds here, maybe that there is weather. but the clouds are spectacular really frequently.

washington's town

2009-09-29T13:02:00.008-06:00

we decided kind of last minute to go to d.c. for the weekend. it was a great idea! we left after ryan's friday noon class. we went to the temple first, the d.c. temple is so big. it is actually our temple, i had no idea you could even live in this country and be 4 hours from a temple! guess it's good i got out of the west coast.
so. in d.c. the next day. we started at the capitol and made our way down to the lincoln memorial. it really is the perfect place to travel. and so nice that all the museums are free dollars. and public transportation. and international food. yes.

maybe you can't see it in this picture of the capitol but there's a dude looking around with binoculars with a huge gun around his neck. cool!

you might recognize this rotunda from "the lost symbol"
you might recognize this aerospace museum from "night at the museum 2"
you might recognize this constitution from "national treasure"

you might recognize this spider from your nightmares. just kidding

unicorn monument

ryan reenacting his 1986 fall into the reflecting pool.

honest and giant
justin and lindsey and annabelle live in d.c. now, and they were so nice to let us stay at their cute apartment. they moved to d.c. like 2 weeks before we moved to pennsylvania -- it's nice to have some family that is in the vicinity!

showing off the new crawl:

hanging out in the national archives for a bit

for stace

2009-09-22T09:21:00.005-06:00

today is sister stacey's bday. she is having a party tonight and everyone was asked to bring a song or poem that they love and share it with her. if i was there i would like to sing this neil young song to her. but maybe it is better that i am not there because his voice is like 1 mil x awesome. (he is the singer from tv on the radio)

also, i don't recommend this movie (rachel getting married) but i really liked this part and i cry most of the times i watch it.

happy bday dudu you are the unknown legend.

penn's cave cavern

2009-09-21T19:05:00.003-06:00

on saturday, ryan and i took a boat tour of penn's cave. which is actually the only way to see penn's cave, being that it is all watered up. it is america's only all water cavern. i'm not sure how cool that is, if that is cool or not.

but, the cave was cool, as caves are. the whole time, the boat driver/guide would point to stuff with his lamp and say there's an elephant coming from the ceiling! there's a white turtle on that rock! there's santa! because that is what the shapes of the stalactites look like. one he pointed to he said was the statue of liberty and on the way back he said it was the leaning tower of pisa. there is only so much you can do with those shapes. we're stretching ourselves kinda thin trying to find stuff to do here on the weekends. next week i might show you pictures of the interior of sam's club. you don't want to miss that.

bellefonte walk

2009-09-19T17:56:00.008-06:00

bellefonte is the town ryan and i live in, it is about 10 miles from campus. it's nice because we're close to school but don't have to feel like we live in a college town. again. bellefonte is a little strange though. it was a pretty happening place in the late 1800's, and since then, half of the city has deteriorated and not been kept up or was rebuilt in the 70's, and the other half has remained in really good condition and still looks really cool and victorian.

this is the house we live in. it was built in the 30's, and was not one of the houses that was kept up well. but so far no major problems. considering it was built during the great depression when they didn't think anyone would ever want to move in box springs or couches again.
it is very hilly in our neighborhood, and the houses are close together. it looks like an eric dowdle painting.

this is the courthouse which we live near. there is a farmers market here twice a week. besides that, people going to court use up the parking spaces in the whole town.
the main streets (2) have a lot of this type of building going on. this particular building houses the two most popular restaurants in town. dairy queen and the bellefonte wok.
there are a lot of churches around the town. like a 1:1 people church ratio. this one is my favorite because of its red doors. there is not an lds church in town or that would be my favorite, obviously.
some of the victorian mansions have been turned into bed and breakfasts. this one my parents are staying in in a few weeks.
and a lot of the old mansions have been split off into smaller apartments like this one.
so that is the basics of our town. other information is that people here are really really nice, and you should not run errands here unless your errands are going to the barber, going to kitschy antique stores, or going to dairy queen. you would be out of luck. tune in next time for pictures of the interior of our house!

some reception pictures

2009-09-15T10:56:00.012-06:00

one of my favorite things about looking through our wedding pictures is seeing the pictures of our friends and family that our photographer took. i wished i could have talked to every person, constantly, the whole time but that was not so easy to do. so i'm glad to have these pictures of people looking like they are enjoying themselves. it makes me really happy to look at these, we are so lucky to have such awesome friends and supportive and loving family.

wedding pictures...

2009-09-14T09:58:00.007-06:00

i'll post more of the reception when i get a faster internet connection, but here are a few of my favorite wedding pictures for now. if you simply can't wait, you can see all of them here: http://leopatrone.instaproofs.com/enterEvent.php?id=107928&returnURL=/category.php?event=107928@id=13122 go crazy!

and teddy roosevelt liked it too

2009-09-08T15:48:00.005-06:00

yesterday we went to the state capitol of pennsylvania HARRISBURG. it is about 1.5 hours from state college and there is not a lot going on there, that's for sure. i do not recommend harrisburg as a destination. i know we were there on a national holiday, but that place was a ghost town. which made the state capitol all the more bizarre in its glory. i mean, that thing is amazing. i had no idea. it cost about $13 mil to build 100 years ago, and it's worth so much and has so much priceless art that the tour guide didn't even do that thing where they say that's $98374 TRILLION DOLLARS in today's money!!! she just said it's priceless. can't insure it. but i was amazed. i didn't know anything like this existed in this country. especially government funded. every inch is hand painted or a mosaic or plated in 23K gold. my pictures are not good but i was impressed. and i don't just throw around my impressedness.

better pics here

bouquets of sharpened pencils

2009-08-26T19:10:00.002-06:00

this is ryan on his first day of law school. doesn't he just look like the kind of guy that is going to kill it?

phil-adel-phia

2009-08-20T19:36:00.004-06:00

on tuesday ryan and i decided to go to philadelphia. philadelphia is not near us, even though we are out east and states here have a reputation for being small. i mean, it's no nebraska but the state's got size. *i am an expert on state widths.* but what it lacks in proximity to moi it makes up for in the history department, large bronze statues of everything and everyone department, rocky running up stairs department, and of course, the brotherly love department. we'll be back. there. and so you know, the museum of art closes at 5 on tuesdays. that may or may not have something to do with why we go back. like in a few weeks. oops

to penn!

2009-08-19T20:34:00.006-06:00

we are in pennsylvania now. the reason i have not blogged yet is because i don't have any great pictures of where i am or how i got here. how i got here was in my car packed with my life's possessions, talking to ryan on the walkie-talkie driving his car packed with his life's possessions. and where i am is a state i have never been in before and i'm not totally sure what to think of it yet.

and why? well that's because of this school and this guy.
so here's to three years here! to penn!

hmoon

2009-08-06T23:39:00.004-06:00

so it's all done and it was great. i think the wedding was really really great. i keep thinking about how happy i was with everything and the day and all the perfect little things and it was just a perfect day. yay. but we're not going to see pictures of it for a long time. like a month. so until then, i'll show you other pictures.

these are from our hmoon, we spent the first few days at sundance and then to seattle for a week. my camera battery died after the first few days, so i only have a few really random pictures. sundance is so beautiful. i was really happy we could stay there a few days and bask in the glory of the greatest weekend ever. seattle was nice, surprisingly i have been there only once when i was a kid so it was all new to me. unfortunately it was really REALLY hot. apparently seattle has never been that hot before. the record was 100 and it was over 100 for 3 or 4 days. yikes.

license

2009-07-20T23:23:00.001-06:00

utah county has approved our impending marriage, as has ryan's presentable new haircut.

the precious

2009-07-17T22:35:00.005-06:00

annabelle is my precious niece, she is 6 months old. many people think they have the cutest nieces/nephews in the world, but they are wrong. i have the cutest niece, and i can prove it.

seriously. like i know my kids won't even be this cute and i am ok with that.

p.c. getaway

2009-07-17T22:21:00.003-06:00

last weekend bianca and maria and i went to park city for a bachelorette party/sweet getaway/general excuse to talk about mature stuff/pamper. you know. we went up pretending like we were going to hike and be ambitious but if you saw the pool at the hotel and the huge bed you would not have thought hiking was a good idea either. so we totally just lounged and it was great. i would like to do that at least once a week, please.

if i told you i know of someone lucky enough to sleep in the middle of those girls, i would not be lying.

bianca probably drinking chocolate milk with her pizza and maria probably nibbling the pizza on the tray, or just the tray.
i have no idea what we are doing here, but i know we were so hungry, we're probably trying to catch random flying objects and eat them.

thanks girlsssssss

summer showers

2009-07-17T21:50:00.007-06:00

ok, since it is a week before the wedding, i decided that i can now post stuff about the wedding and what has been happening without it turning into some other kind of monster. i.e. telling you about details and flower misshaps, showing pictures of veils i think are cute, martha stewart weddings that were really well done, etc. so i'm just going to say a little about what has been going on. first: showers. i have had two awesome showers, one with aunts and cousins and one with gfriends. they have both been really nice and perfect. i kind of hate to be the center of attention but i have not even minded these times because i have so much great family and friends that make me feel so comfortable and loved. (ahhh)

ribbon dance

family shower

cupcakes on parade
girl crew. that's me with my eyes closed. and that's my sister with her eyes closed.
flowers!
high five to a job well done mia and bianca!

and speaking of showers, check this out and guess which day i'm getting married! but it's too far away to really be certain. right?

last day

2009-07-14T16:54:00.003-06:00

i have 5 minutes left of work, and then i am done. with my job. i am using it to tell you that it is my last 5 minutes of work. ryan and i are moving after we get married so it is just one of the things you do. i have learned so much about online marketing and marketing and am basically a brilliant expert now. i am sad to leave and hopefully i can find a great job in penn. but i also feel like a little kid right now who is about to get a summer break! wohoo!!!

almost forgot

2009-07-11T21:54:00.002-06:00

see you soon sarf.

my favorite holiday

2009-07-07T17:01:00.004-06:00

no really, 4th of july is my favorite holiday.

mile high city club

2009-06-22T11:54:00.005-06:00

i know you wouldn't believe me if i told you i went to san francisco last week. you would probably say ya right there's no way you would keep going there you don't even go anywhere else. so i am not going to go into any details. except i will tell you that it was for a wedding, and the above picture were the favors/centerpieces -- herbs and edible flowers that the bride's family had grown from seed. *awesome*

so i will tell you where i went this weekend. which was denver to visit my great friend brooke. i have always thought i have been to colorado, but this is actually the first time i have been there. which is strange because it is so close and sooooo cool.
what happens with brooke
boulder
but mostly i just love sister brooke.

and bikes

practically an adult

2009-05-19T17:00:00.002-06:00

stupid little olive. her ears are taped so they will stick up and people will thinks she is fierce. she does not look too fierce right now though does she. sheepish?

and now it's spring

2009-05-13T11:26:00.004-06:00

and that's what is happening.
plus this

but mostly still this

las vegas

2009-05-13T11:13:00.002-06:00

me and ryan, we traveled the world recently.
new york
a place with treesparis. and probably rome.
and the north pole.
how great is that?

chan franchishco

2009-04-10T11:26:00.003-06:00

when people tell me that they get to travel for work, i usually say lucky and they usually say it's not actually fun all you see is the inside of an airport a taxi a hotel a taxi an airport an airport. well i went on a little business trip myself last week and all i can say is, they are right, but maybe you should try staying one day longer and make a vacation out of it! i was in san francisco last week and (fast forward m-f) saturday it was really beautiful and warm and so so nice! it was the first time i had seen the whole bridge i think (usually it is fogtastic), co-worker chrissy and i rode our bikes over the bridge and through beautiful sausalito and a ferry ride home. i would love to live somewhere where my commute was by ferry. especially if on the other side of that ferry was ghirardeli cookie sundaes!

marriage time!

2009-03-30T11:40:00.005-06:00

guess what, ryan and i are getting married! i'm pretty excited and i think it's going to basically be the coolest thing ever. wohoo!

olive oil bluewrinkle

2009-03-16T23:57:00.003-06:00

ryan got a dog a few weeks ago. her name is olive and she is a "blue" doberman puppy. she is very cute and feisty. here she is.

oregone

2009-03-10T19:01:00.005-06:00

my camera battery charger has passed on, which is why the pictures of this trip have been burning a hole in my camera for the past month. and also the canadian ebayer sending me a new one took several weeks. i recognize that i am not a good blogperson, but i think i do pretty well about posting trips when they happen. maybe that is the only thing i think is worth posting about?

ryan and i went to portland over president's day weekend, and we just had a lovely time. it was one part birthday present for ryan, one part me showing ryan how awesome portland is aka planting seeds, and one part wanting to see new baby shaw. and one part helloooo it's winter i need a trip every month.

1. hunting
2. portland

3. this is a bridge

4. one part beard one part dream

5. just me hanging out being an aunt

6. my brother is a dad
7. cutest baby face in the world, meet the world. world, meet the cutest baby face in the world

8. so weird -- a beautiful day at the beach. and warm? such an amazing miracle

9. man's got a man's beard

baby video by justin

2009-02-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

the great de-freeze

2009-01-27T14:07:00.006-07:00

i keep forgetting i went to hawaii the other week because it feels like sucha dream, but sometimes people ask me "why are you so tan" and on the outside i say i fell asleep in the self-tanning booth--because if i tell them the truth they will get this faraway look and start drooling and i will walk away and they won't notice--but on the inside i say oh ya... hawaii. we went to the big island which is much bigger and much differenter than the other islands. it was nice. but don't take my word for it...

the great freeze

2009-01-20T15:25:00.003-07:00

as always, this has been the coldest winter i can remember. but here are some things that have happened. i went to the nutcracker with maria and bianca:

i moved out of my cozy old apt into a cozier and older one. i love it and will post pics when more of my exciting projects are done. one 09 resolution was to learn how to fix up old furniture, so i am working on a table and a few chairs. these are some of the roommates that i have left
i am still alive through many snow storms and falling on ices and bruised tailbones. please let this be my last winter here.he sold his watch to buy me these shoes and i sold my hair to buy hisand it was christmas. but you knew that.

look it's a baby!

2009-01-07T20:02:00.002-07:00

my brother justin and his wife lindsey had their baby yesterday, her name is annabelle. i think that is pretty great. i can't wait to meet her. here's to the next generation! congrats and welcome baby!

happy thankfood day

2008-11-28T09:00:00.002-07:00

there isn't much left in utah for me to see, is there

2008-11-25T21:15:00.006-07:00

i have been wanting to go to the salt flats for a while but couldn't figure out how to justify a 2.5 hour drive just to see a flatter desert than where i already am. so when i took a friend to the airport on sunday, i decided that it was time. there really isn't much out there. its name is a good description of what it actually is.

oh... the places i go

2008-11-25T20:40:00.007-07:00

i had the great honor of going to vegas with sara and brooke the other weekend. that is a strange place yes sir but it was a nice temperature. it also was a nice temperature in the shops that we were in the whole time. shopping is really similar to gambling: you go into it thinking you're going to spend a certain amount, but you can always justify just putting a little more down. however, not different in the way that i have awesome clothes in addition to an awesome hole in my wallet i'd have either way.

here are some pictures of the back of sara and brooke's heads doing typical las vegas activities.

i'm not the only one

2008-11-12T10:12:00.004-07:00

this morning on the way to work, the radio taught me about this new nasa technology that can approximate how many trees are on the planet by the unique sunlight reflection trees give off.

1. how cool is it that trees give off unique light
2. 400,246,300,201 trees

does that sound like a lot? it is 61 trees per person only! this fills me with a lot of anxiety, and i want to protect my trees. i know my trees are not here in utah (there are 12 trees in the entire state) so i am afraid my 61 trees are in a rainforest in brazil and about to be cut down! i think a great solution would be to actually give everyone ownership of their trees. that way people would never want to cut down their trees to print out silly pamphlets, or to build factories, or to make space for 2 additional parking spots. please just leave my 61 trees up!

the fall post

2008-11-02T16:08:00.005-07:00

now down to posting once a season...

books in gallery

boy in museum

logan in the rain

logan in the ran. (little brother 1st marathon)

fuchsia view

birthday party for brooklyn

he likes aggie ice cream best

happy halloween

my new baby overlooking midway

it's a beautiful fall

triple threat

2008-09-15T14:31:00.002-06:00

last tuesday on the way to work i got pulled over (for the first time in my life)

last wednesday before work there was a boot on my car

and i am a pretty superstitious person, so i believe everyone when they tell me that bad things come in threes. also, about 12 people told me that bad things come in threes when i told people about my trouble with the car law. so i was really nervous about what the third thing was going to be. i didn't really feel like driving this weekend because of that, as i am already constantly on edge being a driving person and living in utah, where people drive like they value no one's life including their own and the babies in the back seats. so you can see why i didn't want to test my driving luck after the double incident, so i parked my car safely on the street, and walked and biked this weekend. alas...

this morning there was a parking violation on my car

you might thing that i am mad for being served a ticket for something that is completely ridiculous, only 30 minutes before i walked to my car (6 am), and that i might be mad about having to pay $30 for nothing if they don't accept my appeal. but i was actually relieved. i am alive!

i didn't even bring my heart since i would have just left it

2008-09-14T22:25:00.006-06:00

ryan and i went to san francisco last weekend to just relax and vacation and take a break. it is such a beautiful city with all the things a city should have: cool people and style good stores good restaurants cool houses beautiful views from everywhere view of the sea from everywhere and an island jail. i realize that the price of living there is so high that many people were walking around without an arm and a leg, but it's like they didn't even mind. i wouldn't mind.

lucky in live

2008-09-04T20:19:00.003-06:00

i went to san diego a few weeks ago to go to my friend alexis' wedding and to just go to the beach why not! it was really beautiful it is nice to go somewhere and breath thicker air. the people are really lucky that get to live there. all the people. all the millions of people in small amounts of space. that have a very high cost of living. those people are still lucky.

alexis and andrew: booya

vagueflation

2008-09-04T10:41:00.003-06:00

i didn't blog for an entire month -- the month of august. you may or may not be able to expect or not expect an upcoming comeback. try to guess what i've been up to:

just kidding there is no connection there! except for that all three pictures are saved on my desktop!

the end of quite an era

2008-07-21T22:44:00.005-06:00

my dear friend and roommate for the past multiple years of life has up and graduated and left me to cure cancer/find out when people have cancer/try to not break as many medical machines as possible in st. george. this is quite a loss to my life, sar has been my partner in crime life for a long time. we first met when i spent a summer in hawaii 3 yrs ago, i moved into the house she was living in and she showed me around da island. then she decided that she wanted to go to byu, so she moved in with me a few months later in provo. and we've been together ever since. besides the time when one of us was gone. but like peanut butter & jelly we always get put back together because it's just so dang perfect. but it is definitely the end of an era, and a big loss in the community. no more...... awesome guitar solos, anchorman quotes that are gotten, laying out on any given day, training for the next big race event, internet shopping 24/7, swimsuit shopping 24/7/365, FUN! jk i can still have fun, and do some of those other things. maybe more internet shopping than before (really) but it will be harder and less FUN. st. george is lucky to have you. and the fundamentalists. dang!!!!! here are some pics of trips, ocean swims, concerts, outings, etc. so many dang memories.

sunset beach, hi
halloween I
huntington
summa
ah yea
sandiago
arcade fuego
state fair
halloween ii

obligatory 7-11 post

2008-07-11T09:19:00.001-06:00

ever since the fire went out

2008-06-25T20:50:00.004-06:00

how do you know when your family is getting old? it's when your family vacations start to be referred to as "family reunions"

last weekend we went to JACKSON, WY ala la GRAND TETONS which is where we used to go a lot when we were younger but haven't been for a while. it was really fun and great weather despite some leftover snow from the previous weekend (??) that inhibited some of our grand hiking ambitions. i started saying "giddyup" about a week before the trip to get ready, because it's kind of a cowboy town. like a designer leather jackets, $4,000 antler furniture, i'm on a harley but 100 years ago it would have been a horse no question, i'm glad we're here so i can finally dust off my cowboy boots type of cowboy town. so i was warming up to "giddyup" and i thought it sounded pretty smooth and it just made sense to say and it fit right in, usually around "hey do you want to go to the bar j chuckwagon dinner?" response: "oh ya, giddyup". get it. but on day one, stacey was like why do you keep saying "giddyup" i don't know if i like it. but by day two she was saying it all the time too, but it didn't sound as good as she hadn't been warming up to it. i can't decide yet if i will stick with it or not because it kind of draws a lot of attention to the fact that i am not a cowboy.

sandlot ii

2008-06-16T23:21:00.002-06:00

i went to the hip happening orem summerfest last weekend. all the rides looked super amateur and our greatest fear was the rides falling apart. i also paid a dollar so i could throw a dart and win a $.50 prize. i did not win. we went on the below ride and i felt so sick i thought i could die. g force backwards to the max. we didn't notice on the way in, but upon disembarking the ride, we noticed a decent amount of upchuck around the perimeter. consider it the last time i time i call any ride amateur to its face. ehhhh

growing gills

2008-06-16T23:07:00.003-06:00

over the past few months we (family and i) have been going through s.c.u.b.a. certification, and last saturday was the final dive day, so we are officially dive and fish and underwater excitement ready. we were thinking about going to hawaii this summer so we started getting certified, but then it didn't happen, so now we are just all dressed up but nowhere to go. but if you think about it, it's kind of like getting a passport, you really have to get it before you have plans, because once you buy that plane ticket, it's hard to fit in all those scuba lessons to your schedule and the post office takes forever to send the passport so they charge you an extra $100 even though it only takes a few days to make anyway.

the shop, the homestead crater where we dived
it was actually really just fun to have an excuse to hang out with the fam once a week, and it was soo easy, easier than snorkling, and fun, even though there have been no fish yet, mostly just bandaids and toy alligators. trip time...

slow june

2008-06-13T11:42:00.008-06:00

bi

2008-05-23T15:32:00.004-06:00

i'm not going to complain about gas prices because i know that it is painful enough for everyone as it is, without having to point out that everyday in the past 2 weeks gas has increased 5 cents, or that you would cry if you knew how small of a number my mpg is.

but i will say, check out what i got:

i love it, it's perfect. i am going to cut out the car.

sweet dreams

2008-05-21T11:24:00.003-06:00

tomorrow is the start of my most favorite show: so you think you can dance. they only do it in the summer but it is the best show ever and this is the third summer now that i will be obsessed and mold my life around thursday nights. even though today is kind of a crappy day, i start smiling everytime i remember i get to watch this show tomorrow!!

obligatory free bird

2008-05-13T15:24:00.003-06:00

even though i am inside 8 hours a day these days, i do have the fortunate experience of facing two grand windows at work, one which faces the whole of utah valley, and the other which faces a tree. in this tree everyday i am seeing more substantial wildlife then i've seen ever seen in utah. combined. these are my favorite birds, i have never seen anything so colorful here.